Save a Failed Idol's Life

“There are five people like Shim Naru in the unit.”

“Kek.”

Yi-jun, who was listening next to me, choked on his drink as if he was about to spit it out.

“Is that so?”

I could roughly guess what he meant by saying there were five people like Shim Naru, based on the broadcast of My Idol Stage that I watched up to episode 5.

He was the type who wanted to monopolize all the attention, and his dissatisfaction was clearly visible on his face if he didn’t get what he wanted.

If it wasn’t a situation where he had to cooperate, he would just ruin his image and bicker with the people around him, and it would be his own loss…

‘This is both an individual competition and a group project.’

It was a situation where I couldn’t just let him do whatever he wanted.

There was no disadvantage if I didn’t get the ACE, but if I didn’t win the unit battle, I had to get the ACE to help the group I belonged to.

Whether it was the main or the lead, it was a tight battle for the highlight since only the vocalists were gathered. I could see it without even watching it.

“How’s rap B group?”

Kyunghwa asked with a curious and worried face at Yi-jun’s surprised reaction.

Yi-jun shrugged his shoulders and answered as if it was no big deal.

“It’s fine. We decided to write our own parts. We hired experts for the beat and mixing, and I’m in charge of the main production.”

It sounded like ours was the most hopeful of the four units we belonged to, but Kyunghwa couldn’t easily believe it and dug deeper.

“Really? How can it be so peaceful…”

“It could be! Everyone’s eyes are on how to write their own parts, so there’s not much to fight about. I promised to upload the accompaniment to the chat room by tomorrow.”

“By tomorrow?”

Everyone’s eyes widened and looked at Yi-jun.

“Yeah, I might have to stay up all night. I have to polish it several times and send it so that there’s less to fix.”

Then everyone seemed to understand why rap B group didn’t make much noise and almost entrusted the producing to Yi-jun.

There was probably no one who could match that schedule as fast as him. He said he would do the hard work himself, so there was no reason not to leave it to him.

“Are you okay? You have practice right away tomorrow, don’t you?”

“I’ve been building up my stamina for this.”

Should I say he’s amazing or he has no plan? Anyway, I was glad that Yi-jun was doing his leader role as I hoped.

“Well… You’re good at what you do, so I’ll give you some advice. Be careful of the camera. Don’t make it look like you’re forcing the other members to do what you want.”

I asked him to be careful, just in case. Yi-jun smiled brightly.

“Don’t worry too much. I think your group is the most worrying one.”

“Ugh.”

Unfortunately, Yi-jun’s concern was true.

What are we going to do with our group?

There were 39 people left, excluding the two Floss members who temporarily left.

How come the ones with no plan, no motivation, and bad attitude are all in my unit? It was a disaster.

“First… I’ll try to fix it as much as I can.”

Usually, when you think of butter chicken, you think of eating it at a restaurant, not at home. Many people would question how to cook it at home, since it seems like a lot of work. But the dish itself was not that difficult to make.

Of course, if your goal was to recreate the authentic taste of India, or to elevate the flavor to the highest level, then it would be a different story.

But if your goal was to make and eat something satisfying at home, then the difficulty level dropped significantly.

The first step was to marinate the chicken. It would have been better to marinate it from the day before, so that the seasoning would soak in well, but I had to make it in a hurry today, so I skipped that. Instead, I gave up a bit of the texture and made deep cuts on the chicken, so that the seasoning would penetrate while baking it in the oven.

I coated the chicken thighs with yogurt mixed with plenty of spices and minced garlic, and baked them lightly in the oven. That was the first stage of preparation.

I looked at the chicken thighs that were browning nicely in the oven with satisfaction, and proceeded to prepare the paste.

‘I bought this to make curry at home someday, but I never opened it.’

I felt a bit sorry to see the specialty spices that I used often when I was Lim Hyun-seong, still sleeping in the cabinet with their packaging intact.

I was going to make a large batch and freeze some for later, so I might as well use them generously today.

I measured out the appropriate amounts of various spices and ground them finely, then turned off the oven and started frying the onions.

‘The smell is amazing, really.’

They say that when you’re depressed, you should eat something delicious. I felt happy to see the onions that were sizzling in the melted butter, turning translucent and emitting a delicious smell.

If I needed fully caramelized onions, I would have used the microwave to save time.

But I didn’t need that much today, so I added the chicken thighs that were partially cooked as soon as the onions were fragrant enough.

The spices, garlic, and onions were fried in butter, and my mouth started to water.

‘The chicken thighs should be tender by now…’

Now, all I had to do was add the tomato paste, coconut milk, finely chopped cashews, and curry paste in the right proportions and adjust the consistency.

I thought about making naan bread too, if I had time. But I had already come home late because of the meeting, and I couldn’t delay the dinner any longer.

‘I probably won’t be able to eat all of this at once, so I’ll make naan bread slowly and eat it next time when I thaw it.’

I didn’t have time to worry about anything else, as I focused on cooking. Before I knew it, I had made a large pot of curry that was enough for ten people.

Maybe it was because I had been standing in front of the fire for a long time. I didn’t realize that sweat was dripping from my forehead.

‘Let’s have a taste.’

I scooped up a spoonful and put it in my mouth. The coconut cream was sweet and smooth, and it matched perfectly with the tomato and butter flavor.

‘This is happiness, man.’

I moved the portion that I was going to freeze to the side of the gas stove to let it cool down, and plated the portion that I was going to eat.

‘Huh?’

As I was about to plate it, I realized that no one had brought any dishes.

I hastily opened the cabinet to see what was there, and luckily, there were disposable spoons and chopsticks that I had received from ordering delivery, but there were no bowls. No bowls.

In the end, I had to use everything from small pots to ramen containers, which were not meant for their original purpose, and I was finally able to finish preparing the meal for five people.

“It’s ready, so come to the table quickly!”

I decided to worry about tomorrow’s work tomorrow. The first thing to do was to fill my stomach. Yeah. I nodded and called the members.

The five of us sat around the table, which looked too small for us, and picked up our spoons. We were closer to each other than usual.

“Can you move a bit…? It’s uncomfortable.”

Kyunghwa glanced at Yi-jun, who was sitting next to him, and complained.

Dance Group A. I was the forced leader of a bunch of slackers who had no plan for being late or cooperating with each other.

I wished I could swap half of them with Vocal Group C. They had too much enthusiasm and caused trouble, but these guys had too little and caused trouble too.

But maybe if I did five people’s worth of work and assigned them simple roles, they would at least do something?

They wouldn’t just let the bus leave without them, even if they only did half a person’s worth of work, right?

I felt a bitter taste in my mouth as I wrapped up the meeting.

“Let’s eat something delicious tonight, even if it takes some time. We’re stressed out.”

When I felt like this, the best thing was to cook something that required a lot of effort and forget about everything else.

“Oh, can I help?”

“Me too!”

Maybe they saw how hard I was having it. The members rushed to offer their help, but I preferred to be alone at times like this.

It depended on the situation, but right now I wanted to work hard by myself and leave my soul behind.

“Thanks for the thought. I’ll make butter curry, so you guys do your own things.”

We had practice again tomorrow, so we couldn’t afford to relax.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Kyunghwa asked me with a worried look, but I waved him off.

“Yeah. Go do your work. I’ll call you when dinner is ready.”

It was a good time to empty the fridge and fill it with new ingredients. I had bought some spices before and hadn’t even opened them, and the chicken legs I bought fresh would soon end up in the freezer.

I sent the members to the living room and went to the kitchen, feeling lighter.

‘I need to get the ingredients first.’

“I don’t want to be this close to my brother either. But I hate it more when he’s closer to that guy.”

The ‘guy’ that Yi-jun was pointing at was obviously Seongwon.

Seong-won glanced at Yi-jun with a look of disdain, then picked up his bowl and started eating his curry. He was the most well-behaved when he ate, of all things.

Since there was some space left, maybe I should get another dining table before we move out.

With that small worry in mind, the end of the day was approaching.

‘Then… what will happen from tomorrow?’

After a happy meal, it was time to start worrying about the real tomorrow.

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